A/N: Hey guys! Sorry that this one is short. I have more chapters that are being written, but my phone was just broke and I'm now having some more troubles at home, on top of military training (which is really fun by the way!) Anyways, I wanted to point out that I try to keep errors to a minimum, but sometimes they slip by. So here's the next chapter!


Gibbs carried a sleeping Tony into the house and he gently shut the door, waiting to hear the click of the lock before moving forward to Tony's new room. As soon as this whole case had started and the prospect that Gibbs could become a father again, he started small remodels. The first thing he did was change his daughter's room into a boy's room. The color of the walls is different and all of his daughter's things are packed up, but other than that, the only changes were the bed sheets. Gibbs had no idea what Tony would like, so he went with the basics and bought some sports themed sheets. Now, as he laid the five year-old down and changed him into his pajamas, he looked back at how ready he was to be responsible for someone again. He felt even better knowing that he saved an innocent life in the process.

Once Gibbs had Tony settled, he headed downstairs to find some supper. Gibbs opened the fridge and sighed. With no-one but himself, Gibbs never had any reason to keep his fridge stocked, but now he needed to go out and actually buy real food. Gibbs grabbed a container of leftovers from a couple days ago and went to heat it up.

As he sat at the table, waiting for the microwave to go off, Gibbs froze when he heard a scream coming from upstairs. He took off sprinting up the stairs and to Tony's room. He burst through the door and found Tony screaming and thrashing around in his bed, getting tangled in his sheets. The more he thrashed around in his sleep, the more tangled he got, and the more frantic he became in his nightmare. Gibbs rushed over to the side of the bed and laid a hand on the boy's shoulders, trying to hold him down.

"Tony! Tony, wake up! Tony!" He called, over and over again, trying to wake him and pull him out of his nightmare. Tony stopped thrashing but still had his eyes shut tight, whimpering and moving his head back and forth, as if trying to erase a bad memory, Gibbs took one hand off Tony's shoulder and gently stroked the side of his son's face. "Tony, wake up son. It's ok, you're ok. It's just a dream. Wake up Tony, it's ok." He murmured, attempting to calm him enough to pull him out of the nightmare.

Suddenly, Tony's eyes shot open and he gasped in a breath. He had a wild look in his eyes and he took in his surroundings quickly. Tony saw Gibbs sitting next to him in his bed and he shrank back a bit. His eyes cleared from the last of his nightmare and refocused on Gibbs again. The boy still had a confused look on his face when he finally spoke. "D-Daddy?" He whimpered, shaking slightly.

Gibbs gave a small grin and stroked the side of Tony's face. "Yeah, Bud. I'm here."

Tony sniffed and flung himself at Gibbs. As soon as he had a hold of the older man's clothes in his tiny fists, sobs racked his body. Gibbs wrapped his arms around the boy's shaking body and murmured into his hair. "It's ok buddy. It's going to be ok."

Tony's incoherent sobs turned down a notch to just a steady cry. Tony clutched tight to Gibbs's sturdy body and between cries he said one word, over and over again. "D-Daddy. Daddy. Daddy!"

Gibbs gripped Tony tighter and started rubbing his back, moving in slow circles. "Shhh... It's ok, Tony. I'm here. Daddy's here. It's going to be ok. I'm here." He whispered soothingly.

After several more minutes of this, Tony's cries finally subsided to sniffles and occasional whimpers. Gibbs refused to let go of Tony, waiting for the crying to cease and wear him out. Gibbs gently rocked the five year-old in silence for several minutes before he looked down and saw that Tony was curled into his chest with his thumb in his mouth, sleeping once again. Gibbs sighed and laid his son down in bed once again, but he didn't leave right away like the last time. He stood at the side of the bed and just watched him sleep. The slight sucking of his thumb, and the stead rise and fall of his tiny chest soothed Gibbs.

He stood there with a smile on his face. Tony had called him Daddy. If he realized he did it or not, Gibbs didn't care. He took that as a sign that their relationship was moving closer to being a family and not just an adult looking after a child. He finally made his way back downstairs towards his dinner and then sat on the couch with a pen and a pad of paper on his lap. He decided to create a list of everything he wanted to do in the next few days to get Tony and himself comfortable with their new lives.


A/N: I hope that having the whole 'Daddy' thing isn't too early, but it kinda just happened. Remember to R&R! Thanks for reading! -Drew